Fifth Circuit

The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) on Monday granted a stay that will prevent the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit from issuing a mandate stemming from a recent Fifth Circuit opinion that the Horseracing and Safety Integrity Act (HISA)'s enforcement mechanism is unconstitutional. The stay is to be in effect pending a decision by the Supreme Court as to whether it will take up the larger issue of whether those enforcement provisions are unconstitutional under the private nondelegation doctrine, which is a basic principle of...

The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit required fewer than 24 hours to shoot down a request made Monday by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) to delay the issuance of that court's mandate that the Horseracing and Safety Integrity Act is unconstitutional. The Authority had asked the appeals court to hold off on making the mandate official while the Authority petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to step in and decide the current HISA constitutionality conflict that exists because of clashing opinions out of two separate...

The Horseracing and Safety Integrity Authority (HISA) made it clear on Monday that by Oct. 16, it intends to ask the United States Supreme Court to step in and decide the current HISA constitutionality conflict that exists because of clashing opinions out of two separate federal appeals courts. The move potentially sets up a final say, perhaps as early as 2025, on a legal showdown that has split factions of the Thoroughbred industry since HISA's initial passage in 2020. One week after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth...

On Friday, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued a decision finding that while "nearly all" legally contested aspects of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) were constitutional, they determined the HISA Authority's broad enforcement powers unconstitutional. In the process, the Fifth Circuit split with the Sixth Court Circuit's Court of Appeals which recently had found the Congressionally amended version of HISA constitutional. The Supreme Court subsequently declined to hear a challenge to that decision filed by Oklahoma, Louisiana and West Virginia. "HISA's enforcement provisions...

The TDN has launched a prediction market, where voters "bet" on the outcomes of questions with virtual money and earn real money with their correct predictions to be donated to charity. The market was the idea of TDN writer J. N. Campbell. Several times a week, the TDN will pose a question in the TDN, on our website in a story post, and on social media, asking voters to predict the outcome of a particular story. We are using the platform Manifold, profiled in a New York Times story, The...

Earlier this month, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans heard oral arguments in a pivotal case—led by the National Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (NHBPA)—seeking to overturn the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) on grounds that it is constitutionally flawed. In short, the Fifth Circuit's pending ruling could have profound implications for the short and long-term future of the federal law. Oral arguments in the Fifth Circuit follow a key decision earlier this year out of the United States Court of Appeals...

The North American Association of Racetrack Veterinarians (NAARV) is arguing for the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit to overturn the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) on constitutional grounds because the law allegedly "places the racetrack veterinarians at a greater risk than other covered persons" from a due process standpoint. Chief among the assertions made by the NAARV in a 51-page "friend of the court" brief filed July 14 are that "initial findings of wrongdoing by a member of NAARV, pursuant to HISA, result in a...

The Texas judge handling the National Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (NHBPA) constitutionality lawsuit that is trying to halt the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) on Wednesday refused to grant an injunction that would delay the May 22 implementation of the Anti-Doping and Medication Control (ADMC) program. In issuing his order, United States District Court Judge James Wesley Hendrix of the Northern District of Texas (Lubbock Division) pointed out that it is the second time in two weeks that he has informed the plaintiffs in a court order that...

After a series of false starts, the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act's (HISA) signature anti-doping and medication control (ADMC) program is now set to go into effect on May 22. Continuing to play out against this latest development are a handful of lawsuits seeking to derail the law—a complex legal landscape evolving at seemingly vertigo-inducing speed. In a ruling delivered last week, judge James Hendrix of the Lubbock Division of the Northern District of Texas found the version of the act amended by Congress at the end of last year...

The revamped Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) statute that got signed into law back in December was judged to be constitutional late on Thursday by the Texas federal district judge handling the case on remand from the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. "Congress answered the call-identifying the three constitutional concerns that led the Fifth Circuit to hold HISA unconstitutional and rectifying each with the amendment," wrote United States District Court Judge James Wesley Hendrix in his May 4 order out of the Northern District of...

The recently amended federal lawsuit spearheaded by the state of Louisiana against the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) Authority and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is facing a new challenge from the HISA Authority defendants, who filed a Mar. 6 motion to strike the latest version of the complaint based on allegations that the plaintiffs are "improperly" attempting to use federal rules of civil procedure to turn the case to their advantage. The chief beef in the HISA Authority's Mar. 6 "motion to strike" filed in U.S. District Court...

"Sometimes, government works." With those words, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has upheld the constitutionality of the Horse Racing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA), setting up a potential court battle in the U.S. Supreme Court. In short, the Sixth Circuit has ruled that the language added to the bill at the end of 2022 to address concerns of unconstitutionality were sufficient to alleviate those concerns. The plaintiffs in the Sixth Circuit case were comprised of the state of Louisiana; Oklahoma and its racing commission, plus...